Long Lost Dream
What if you, as a man/woman again meets someone you fell in love with, while engaged to someone? Would you care if society judges you? Or would you just follow what your heart desires?
Dead Stars is a narrative story which takes rise to contemporary Philippine English poetry. The author Paz Márquez-Benitez writes a story about affection in the novel Dead Stars, it also reflects the time where literary work is composed of the language and beliefs of the people. It is like a literary time machine, allowing the people and readers to understand courtship and marriage were like in the early 1900s. It shows the difference between the past and the present, where culture and traditions are changing.
The story is about a man named Alfredo Salazar. He believes in true love and hopes to find what truly makes him happy. The first woman Alfredo loved is Esperanza, and they are engaged, but as time passes by his love for Esperanza is slowly gone, and he falls in love with another woman named Julia. Alfredo struggled to choose from the two of them, but in the end, Alfredo was afraid that people would judge him for choosing Julia over Esperanza, therefore Julia left, and Alfredo and Esperanza got married.
"Dead Stars" symbolizes a dream for something that doesn't exist. In the story, Alfredo falls in love with Julia, she was his star. He thought love was there, but like a dead star which is so far away, he was a long way from getting Julia, and the love he thought was possible, never was.
Alfredo was in love with Esperanza, but there was a time that love faded, and the only thing that is holding and bonding the relationship was a vow that was promised and can't be taken back. For Alfredo, love was weak and purposive, because it was overcome by suitability. It was just being used to justify his desire to go against society. He was the one controlling himself and was worried that society would judge him, even though he and Esperanza are already engaged. Alfredo kept holding on to the marriage.
Alfredo struggles against society. During the time of the story, people often pay heavy attention to the community they relate to, so Alfredo was afraid of the reaction of the people. They attempt to confirm the society’s standards, traditions, and culture, although sometimes conformity would force them to give a portion of themselves, such as attitude, an impulse, or a choice.
- diana✨